Duterte a hit at ABC TV5

by Chito A, Fuentes

Even before the doors at the tightly-guarded building housing the Pangilinan media empire, it was obvious that Mayor Rodrigo Duterte’s reputation had preceded him.

Employees including members of the respective news teams betrayed their excitement by the non-ending inquiries on the exact time of the mayor’s arrival. Everyone who knows Duterte knows it would take a prophet to predict that.

Nearly half an hour before he eventually did, the hallway leading to the boardroom where the round table discussion for “Happy Hour”, ABC 5’s early afternoon program was already filled.

“O, ba’t andito kayong lahat?” inquired a male anchor who smiled broadly as he walked his way past the crowded hallway. His query elicited giggles and restrained laughter.

“Di ba dapat nasa loob tayo?” a lady anchor muttered, obviously as a reaction to the observation of her peer earlier.

The line only got longer and thicker, and the noise louder even though the members of the undeclared welcome party tried to keep their voices down. 

Duterte’s staff gently raised the matter of the mayor’s colorful language, prompting the crew in charge of the live program to prepare a disclaimer which would come in handy at certain points.

By the time Duterte walked in, the applause, the cheers and the flashing of cameras made one forget that it was raining cats and dogs outside the building.

Duterte stuck to his earlier pronouncement that he was not running. And yet those who listened and especially those who asked questions including, among others Luchi Cruz-Valdez, Martin Andanar, Erwin Tulfo, Raffy Tulfo, Cheryl Cosim, Danton Remoto and Ted Abad did not appear to be convinced.

It was vintage Duterte with his brief historical perspective on the Mindanao situation, his philosophical mind set on the prevailing peace and order situation, his firm grasp of the problems confronting the country and his indictment of the existing political order.

“Ang dami nyang alam!” a lady reporter whispered to another reporter beside her inside the board room.

The mayor effortlessly shifted from his emphatic and passionate warnings to criminals to witty responses every now and then. 

The biggest hit was undoubtedly when he mimicked his nemesis, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima when he was investigated en banc over alleged extrajudicial killings.

The laughter that erupted in and out of the board room was such that it was immediately met by instinctive motions for silence.

At the concluding portion, he was asked again whether his decision not to run next year was final. The mayor replied in Tagalog: “masama magsalita na tapos”.

A male anchor gently tapped the table, a woman reporter gently clapped her hands while a few responded with subdued glee.

Somehow, the exchange ended on a positive note. 

From there, Duterte was whisked off to another studio where he was interviewed one-on-one by Cruz-Valdez, the award-winning executive.

Duterte was at his best, however, weaving in and out of difficult questions with ease. Like all his previous media interviews, the mayor left little to the imagination.

Pressed to elaborate on his parting statement earlier by Cruz-Valdez, Duterte explained that it is all in God’s hands.

What if God told him He wants him to run? Duterte did not waste a second: “Gusto mo akong patakbuhin? Saan pera mo?” he snapped, his right palm turned upwards.

Nearly everyone laughed heartily, and everybody had to be reminded that the show was being taped.

As soon as the director shouted “cut!”, the ritual of selfies and groupies commenced.

“Ganito ba talaga palagi?” the guard was asked.

Predictably, he answered with a shaking motion of his head, “hindi Sir ah!”.

Usually, it is only the crew in charge of the production who would be present. That day, there were kibitzers not only from other shows but also from other departments.

The way they held their mobile phones, one need not be a sociologist to know what they were there for.

It was more or less the same scene when Duterte moved into still another studio for the taping of a show for Bloomberg with Tony Abad. While the air was less charged as Duterte was less fired up, understandable after two straight shows, the excitement building up among those who were waiting for their time for the pictorials with the mayor was there for all to see.

It was still raining hard when Duterte walked out of the media complex into a waiting van but few people seemed to notice. 

The exhilarating experience with the mayor left an impact that would be a difficult act to follow for his rivals. The man who said he would not run for president obviously just gained more admirers and supporters than he previously had. 

To say that Duterte was a hit on ABC 5 would be an understatement (CHITO A. FUENTES)

We are your family too, Rotarians tell Duterte

by Chito A. Fuentes

We are your family too.

This was the message of Metro Manila Rotarians to Mayor Rodrigo Duterte Wednesday evening.

Duterte found his hands full fending off the appeals and pleas for him to run during the second regular meeting of four Rotary chapters Wednesday night at the SMS Convention Center of SM Aura in Taguig City.

1993 Photo of Mayor Dutere welcomed by his son Sebastian upon arrival from a successful mission to sign sister-city agreements with Bitung and Manado in North Sulawesi in Indonesia (Photo by Rene Lumawag)

Former Rep. Lorna Verano-Yap started the ball rolling when she took the microphone during the interaction portion.

Yap, who was a member of the 8th Congress and principal author of the Anti-Plunder Bill, said this was the first time she met Duterte.

What she said next triggered “oohs” and applause. 

“Akala ko, I always thought that the man who will break my heart has never been born. But two days ago, when you announced that you’re not going to run for president my heart, was broken to 10 million pieces,” Verano-Yap declared figuratively.

A confessed ladies man, Duterte said  he would “never have announced it without pondering for 24 hours.”

He reiterated the main reason he gave in his brief announcement that he was not running which is the opposition of his family. 

“When I am politically spent and I grow old, to whom do i go to, to you?” the mayor replied, partly in jest.

The mayor answered his own question.

“It will be my daughters and my son who will pay for my medicines,” he added.

Duterte said his daughter, former Davao Mayor Sara Duterte whom he wants to succeed him, warned him that he would die prematurely if he becomes president because of hypertension.

“In case you would die, you would not die in vain. I think you (would have died) because of love of country,” Ann Tangco countered.

Becky Singson, who said she just returned that day from Abu Dhabi, revealed that as of that day, “49,000 OFWs registered to vote because they wanted to vote Duterte for president!”.

“And when they found out na hindi na pala tatakbo, ayaw na mag register nung iba,” she lamented.

Duterte acknowledged that he his popular among OFWs and gave the reason why.

“They do not know me. Ang concern nila is all about security of their children…for the sake of their children,” he added.

Duterte insisted he is going around the country to advocate federalism which he said is the last card for peace in Mindanao.

“I never said in any forum at any time that i want to become president of this country,” the mayor declared emphatically.

That is true.

But it seems the number of people who would not take “no” for an answer has multiplied by leaps and bounds after the initial shock after his announcement.

Cavite Board Member Irene Bercito asked the most touching question for the evening.

Bercito, who said she is running for vice-governor because she is taking courage to change the situation said she wants Duterte to be “our leader for the next election”.

She asked Duterte if he would “just stand there” while “we are clamoring for change in this country” 

"Would you just watch us, having seen a multitude of people if they would go out in the streets, asking for you to do something and we are here, all these rotarians here, all those people who believe in you would you just watch?”, she pressed further.

Bercito said she believes there is a purpose for everything. Then she asked the most important question.

“Would you just sit down to and go back to your family, as you said, or consider that these Filipinos would be your family too?,” she asked, the applause that followed showed the approval of the rest. 

Chances are, Duterte will encounter the same question from a growing number of Filipinos in the coming days. (CHITO A. FUENTES)

The man who would not run for president, and the growing mass who thinks he should

by Chito A. Fuentes

A day after he made a categorical declaration in his native Davao City that he is not a candidate for president, Mayor Rodrigo Duterte received a rousing welcome fit for a presidential candidate in three Metro Manila cities.

Duterte first punched a hole at the Navotas City Hall where city officials and employees led by Mayor John Rey Tiangco gave him a swarming welcome.

The chopper which carried him from his hotel landed at the helipad on the rooftop of the Navotas City Hall.

After alighting from the chopper, Duterte descended down the flight of stairs to the mayor’s office which should have taken only a few minutes.

Instead, Duterte ran smack into an ambush interview by TV networks which the mayor obliged as he normally does. As a result, it took him 32 minutes to traverse 11 steps. 

Tiangco welcomed Duterte in his office crammed with employees and supporters chanting "Duterte!"

The scene was replicated in every floor until the mayor left the building as workers lined up for selfies which has become a ritual wherever he goes.

On the way to the City of Malabon University (CMU), Duterte’s caravan drew applause and cheers from people who lined up the streets for a glimpse of the mayor.

When he entered the CMU grounds, jumping and screaming students who had been waiting for hours under the searing heat of the sun welcomed Duterte whom the emcee introduced as “ang nag-iisang idol ng bayan”.

The mayor’s speech was not much different from his previous speaking engagements where he lamented Mindanao’s plight under a centralized government.

“I am not a candidate,” Duterte stressed at the start of his speech, reiterating the 12-minute declaration he made in Davao City the previous day.

The reception he received, however, showed many people have not given up on the clamor for his candidacy.

People packed the streets to cheer Duterte as his motorcade took him around Malabon. Perhaps, they did not hear the news, or perhaps they just refuse to believe. Whatever the reason, it was every bit a welcome for a conquering hero.

At certain points, the caravan had to come to a full stop as people invaded the streets to get a glimpse of the mayor as shouts of “idol!” repeatedly erupted in the air.

Duterte obliged the crowd by opening the door of the van to pump flesh with fans, some of whom waved home-made welcome streamers.

Later in the evening, Duterte was guest of Greenhills traders in San Juan which was expected to be not much different from the first two.

Notwithstanding the mayor’s categorical pronouncement that he is not running, the Duterte fever is sweeping Metro Manila.

At the rate things are going, it has become a test of wills between the man who said he would not run for president, and the growing mass which insists he should.  (CHITO A. FUENTES)

Duterte the surgeon

by Chito A. Fuentes

If I do not get the cooperation and support that I want from Congress within six months to one year, I will declare a revolutionary government.

Mayor Rodrigo Duterte never fails to issue this declaration in every speaking engagement: in Catarman, a small fishing village in Camiguin; before Jaycees from exclusive villages in Makati; Muslims gathered in Marawi to state university students in Iloilo City; local government workers in Valencia, Bukidnon; parents in Balanga, Bataan; local politicians in Pagadian to the most revered or feared (take your pick) journalists inside the hallowed confines of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

The reactions have been varied: a blank stare from a stevedore in Cebu City, enthusiastic clapping from relatives in Maasin, nods of approval from members of business people in Iligan City, and a gasp from a lady executive inside the PDI editorial office.

Among other things, PR practitioners sympathetic to Duterte shudder every time they hear him declare this warning emphatically. It is a gamble that no other politician would risk at this time. That Duterte does so recklessly - or so it seems - separates him from the rest of the pack.

Duterte insists on this because he is aware of the land mines.

An ailing nation might just need a surgeon, someone who can cut cleanly the cancerous tentacles gripping its growth and energize its full potentials 

“How can you reform the police? Customs? BIR? You will be brought to court, yung tamaan will get a TRO, aakyat sa Court of Appeals… How? Kayong mga lawyers dyan, tell me how, aber,” he presses his point time and again. Every time he does, he gets the same response: silence.

When he was asked by PDI editors what he will do with the traffic problem in Metro Manila, he gave a brief reply. 

“Under the present set-up? Wala!”

No one bothered to pursue the issue. Any further discussion would be pointless. Duterte is right: with the five pillars of justice in bad shape, the present set-up is a straight jacket to any reformer.

Duterte insists he does not find anything attractive in the presidency. He rattles off the reasons why he thinks so: the Mindanao powderkeg, the communist insurgency, illegal drugs, criminalities, the Chinese incursions, graft and corruption… the gestures on his hand delivered the rest of the message.

Indeed, at his age, and after all the sacrifices he has made, he deserves to ride into the sunset. For one who has evaded luxurious lifestyle like a plague, the perks of the position does not appeal to him.

“Aanhin ko pa yan?” he asks. It is a question that needs no answer - because it is obvious.

“I have all the accolades to last me a lifetime,” he adds. Duterte is right: transforming Davao City from the virtual killing fields into the safest city in the Philippines and the fifth top economy among cities is a feat that has assured him of a place in history at least among Davaoenos.

Duterte needs the presidency like a hole in the head, as the tired cliche goes.

And yet, Duterte himself is aware that the clock is ticking. He himself warned that if the drug problem is not addressed, the Philippines will become the next Mexico.

With the traffic gridlock worsening every day, criminals getting bolder and bureaucracy disintegrating - among other pressing concerns - more and more people insist Duterte must rise to the occasion. 

Are Filipinos ready for what Davaoenos have gotten used to: out-of-the-box solutions to what other executives consider hopeless situations? That remains to be seen. 

There are those who fear that a revolutionary government will give rise to a new dictator. The fears are not unfounded. And yet Duterte has shown in Davao that he can be a firm and decisive leader without suppressing civil liberties and compromising common good.

“I swear on my mother’s grave..There is a lesson to look at” he replied, when the specter of another dictatorship was brought up. Only those who know how his mother marched against dictatorship, and how he respects his mother, can fathom the depth of that oath. 

“You just have to trust me,” was all he could add. The answer is a no-brainer to Davaoenos, 80% of whom approved of the presidency for him in a recent poll. But will the rest of the country settle for that?

No patient requiring surgery relishes the idea of going under the knife. But when refusal is no longer an option, the patient knows the next step is to choose the surgeon to entrust his or her life to.

No one else among the present crop of presidentiables is capable of performing surgery on an ailing nation. There is no need to go into specifics because the facts are obvious.

Duterte cannot escape the reality that if ever the nation entrusts the leadership to him, he will have to take extreme measures and painful choices along the way. 

The mayor will have to replicate a feat he has accomplished in Davao on the national scale. It is daunting, but it can be done. He will need all the help that he can get, but Duterte has experience on his side.

If there is anybody who can get it done, it is Duterte. 

Make way for Duterte the surgeon. (CHITO A. FUENTES)  

Why Duterte is IT

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NP-PDP LABAN ALLIANCE MEET CONFIRMED BY DUTERTE CAMP

The reported secret meeting between leaders of the Nacionalista Party (NP) and the Partido Demokratikong Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) to explore a possible alliance to back Presidential prospect and Davao City Mayor Rody Duterte indeed took place last week.

Peter Tiu Laviña, former Davao City councilor and newly-designated official spokesman for Mayor Duterte said present during the meeting held in an undisclosed place in Metro Manila were former Senator Manny Villar, his wife Senator Cynthia Villar, PDP-Laban Chairman Emeritus former Senator Aquilino Pimentel, his son Senator Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III and Mayor Duterte.

The meeting discussed a possible alliance between NP and PDP-Laban to support Mayor Duterte's expected bid for the Presidency in 2016.

The alliance, however, has yet to be finalized as Mayor Duterte asked the leaders of the two political parties to give him "a little more time" to "think things over" and sort out some problems which could prevent him from accepting the call for him to be the standard bearer of the two parties, Laviña said.

"The information I received was that nothing was finalized because Mayor Duterte asked for a little more time to think things over," Laviña said.

Mayor Duterte has consistently refused the endorsement for him to run for President citing his lack of financial resources, his age and the opposition of his family.

While he he has been Mayor of a major city in the Southern Philippines for 23 years, Mayor Duterte has led a simple lifestyle preferring to live in a low-cost housing unit in a GSIS-funded housing subdivision in Davao City.

At 70, Duterte's family believes he deserves to take a rest from public service and encourages him to enjoy his retirement.

"The alliance between the two parties would only be finalized if Mayor Duterte finally agrees to run for President," Laviña said.

The final decision of Mayor Duterte is expected to come very soon considering that the deadline for the filing of the Certificate of Candidacy will be by the middle of October, Laviña added.

Leyte massing up for Rody Duterte

by Chito A. Fuentes

TACLOBAN CITY - “Mayor Duterte? Here in Tacloban?”, a passenger waiting for her flight at the Daniel Romualdez Airport asks repeatedly in Waray.

It is not that she distrusts the people holding up welcome streamers for Davao Mayor Rodrigo Duterte who was slated to arrive in Tacloban Saturday afternoon.

Duterte was the main guest at the Leyte Electric Cooperative III’s 36th annual general membership meeting in Tunga, Leyte, about 40 minutes from Tacloban.

Rather, the woman found it hard to believe that the Davao mayor would indeed be coming to Tacloban in the flesh.

It is not that Duterte coming to Tacloban was improbable. Rather it was a reflection of how most people in Leyte hold the Davao mayor in respect and admiration.

Duterte was the first local executive outside Leyte who arrived in Ground Zero after typhoon Yolanda, one of the strongest typhoons in the world, unleashed its wrath in 2013.

The mayor, who brought in manpower, medicines, food and relief goods to the people of Tacloban and other parts of Leyte, came and went without fanfare.

Good deeds, however, will not remain unnoticed and Duterte’s is one of them.

“I just want to shake his hand. I was walking barefoot, hungry and shivering not knowing what to do. He saw me, gave me food, dry clothes and rubber sandals,” a woman in her 60s said, explaining her insistence to wait in line in the searing heat for the mayor to emerge from his speech in Tunga.

Duterte recalled his post-Yolanda response to Philippine Daily Inquirer editors and writers, confessing for the first time that he stopped at least twice because he could no longer hold back his tears.

The mayor is feared for his tough approach to crime and drugs in his city but his constituents know they can always count on him.

“It was already dark when Mayor Duterte arrived, I think he was in pajamas, to give relief goods and hand over a check,” recalled Southern Leyte Gov. Roger Mercado who welcomed the mayor when he attended the Roa Clan reunion in Maasin City last May.

Ormoc oldtimers still remember that Duterte sent relief goods and manpower when the city was devastated by a flash flood in 1991. He also responded to the Ginsaugon landslide in 2006.

Few people outside Leyte are aware of this because Duterte always made it a point to get things done without fanfare.

In fact, one of his instructions to the Davao 911 responders before they left for Tacloban was to refuse interviews and just stick to their job.

Duterte does not hide the fact that he has a soft spot for Leyte.

“It is the land of my birth. It is the home of my people,” he has declared more than once, as though reciting a solemn pledge for a people who has a special place in his heart.

Indeed, aside from the fact that Duterte was born in Maasin, Southern Leyte, the emerging political star from Mindanao has proven time and again that he has sympathized with Leytenos in their times of sorrow.

Visayas has contributed three Presidents to the country: President Manuel Roxas of Capiz in Western Visayas, Presidents Sergio Osmena of Cebu and Carlos Garcia of Bohol of Central Visayas. 

Until this time, Eastern Visayas, like the island of Mindanao, has not seen one of its own in the highest office in the land.

There has been a growing clamor for Duterte to join the race in next year’s polls. His successes in Davao City, his character, competence and courage make him the most viable candidate at a time when lawlessness, drugs, criminality and corruption stalk the land.

“Tell him to run for president. All of us in our family will go all out for him,” said the lady at the airport.

It seems like Leyte and Eastern Visayas have found not only an opportunity to repay Duterte for his kindness in their times of need, but also a champion who will fight for them.

Indeed, Duterte is finding it harder and harder to resist the clamor for him to lead the country and fulfill his date with destiny. (CHITO A. FUENTES)

ABS-CBN REPORT ON DUTERTE'S 'SUPPORT FOR IGLESIA' DISTORTED

An ABS-CBN news reported by Ryan Chua lumping Davao City Mayor Rody Duterte in the group of politicians who expressed support for the Iglesia Ni Cristo's protest rally was distorted and edited to fit into a neatly laid out story to prop up the image of another politician.

Peter Tiu Laviña, spokesman for Davao City Mayor Rody Duterte, said the Chua report was misleading as it lined up the Davao City Mayor with other politicians who openly supported the protest rally staged by the INC which caused a monstrous traffic jam along EDSA and angered stranded motorists.

The Chua report attempted to place the Mayor and the other politicians in a bad light while highlighting administration Presidential candidate Manuel Roxas III as the only presidential contender who stood up against the INC.

"Mayor Duterte expressed support to the Constitutional Right to Peaceful Assembly, not to what the Iglesia ni Cristo was protesting against or fighting for," Laviña said.

"These are two different things. In fact, Mayor Duterte was clear in his statement that the issues which brought the INC members to the protest sites were none of his concern but he would allow them to stage a rally as a recognition of their right to peacefully assemble and express their grievances," Laviña added.

He would issue the same statement if the protesters were members of the Leftist organisations, transport groups and other religious groups who would like to gather peacefully to seek redress for their grievances, he said.